UPCOMING EVENTS

Remember the S1 and S2 Sony showed us a while ago? Looks like the company is still thinking in unconventional terms when it comes to tablet design.

Images of the new Sony Xperia tablet have just been leaked (supposedly they’re press photos). We’re also hearing that the tablet may feature beefy quad-core specs, a Microsoft Surface-like peripheral keyboard, an Android operating system, and a tiered price tag ranging from $400 to $600.

The designs we’re seeing today show a super-sleek device that’s long and narrow, certainly a change of pace from the two standard tablet sizes and resolutions: the “overgrown smart phone” seven-inchers and the “iPad or similar” 10-inch devices. But the new designs suggest that Sony has abandoned the wedge shape it was playing with during the S-device stage.

Uniqueness aside, this outside-the-box kind of form factor is something app developers love to hate, since it can wreak havoc on how their work is displayed.

Still, Sony’s been known to throw device design curveballs in the past. In this gallery, you’ll see the new tablet pics, with a couple of S-tablet images thrown in for comparison. You can see the dual-screen, foldable, candybar-style design was clearly “out there” by anyone’s standards.

[vb_gallery id=506914]

We’ll likely know more about this device later this month; it could be released as early as September. Stay tuned!